Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Sustainable Development and Cities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A delicious opportunity exists to establish an integrated, one-stop peninsula autism centre. It would be a nationally significant initiative, servicing the greater Frankston-Mornington Peninsula area and the south-east area of Melbourne and addressing a poorly understood condition and a profound challenge facing a growing number of Australian families. Autism in Australia is diagnosed at a rate of one for every 160 children today, compared with four or five children for every 10,000 just a decade ago. We do not know why this is, but it does emphasise the need and the compelling case for making autism research a national priority. This increasing prevalence rate highlights the desperate need for improved and more readily available detection; an enormous boost for affordable, intensive and effective early intervention services; more accessible family support and respite; improved clinical awareness and training amongst professionals who work with young children; and a better transition strategy for young people moving through key life stages.

It is a credit to my friend and colleague Andrew Robb, the member for Goldstein, and his dedicated electorate staff, particularly Samantha Russell, that they and Andrew’s partner, Maureen, convened an autism spectrum disorder function quite recently. The guest speakers included Andrew; Val Spence from Autism Victoria; Patricia Duggan, the Larmenier school principal; Josephine Barbaro from La Trobe University’s Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre; Baptcare’s Kim O’Neill; and Kerry Lyons from MOIRA family services. All of them made wonderful contributions.

Many insights emerged—too many to be detailed in the time available to me—but the need to end the farce that is the Brumby government’s persistence in refusing to recognise autism under the Victorian Disability Act was a key conclusion. The need for Australian research to support and develop practical and dependable early diagnostic tools and to identify the most effective forms of intervention to optimise potential and quality of life was also an important, recurring theme. A serious and urgent need for more funding for comprehensive and coordinated services and the re-education of clinicians, educators and support service providers—who may not be aware of autism spectrum disorder—to make them informed about this condition and what they can do about it in their professions were some of the main themes that arose.

What I have put forward to the government is a practical response that would be a great leap forward for autism. It is a concept that involves the Frankston campus of Monash University, the incredible group of people at Abacus and the ABA clinic that they operate on a not-for-profit basis and also many committed people such as Professor Dennis Moore and these centres at Monash that give us a great chance to take a great leap forward. I welcome the response from the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, Mr Shorten. I know there is a tender process underway. I am sure this proposition meets all those requirements, but it also offers much more. It is a national initiative that is well deserving of being embraced.